A fight over a cheap pair of gloves nearly cost a 15-year-old boy his life yesterday. The Grade 9 student was brazenly stabbed in the stomach in front of at least 50 students in a busy hallway at Don Mills Collegiate Institute, witnesses said.

According to friends who were close by, the stunned victim didn't say a word as a pool of blood began to seep through his white shirt.

He pulled the shirt up to reveal a hole in his stomach and muscle matter hanging from the wound.

'STUNNED'

"He was stunned," a 13-year-old friend said. "He stood there -- there was a hole in his shirt. He lifted up his shirt and you could see like, his muscle hanging out of his stomach. Then he turned around and started walking. It didn't sound like he was hurt at all. Then he was like, 'call the ambulance.' "

Another student, a 17-year-old youth, was arrested about 25 minutes later by police, who tracked him to a portable classroom behind the Lawrence Ave. E. and The Donway-area school. His black hoodie pulled up over his face, the boy slumped against the wall as cops slapped handcuffs on him just after 11 a.m.